


What Remus Needs

by grimheart (gallifreytrash)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort, Full Moon, M/M, Mentioned James Potter, Mentioned Peter Pettigrew, basically just Sirius looking after Remus after the full moon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:54:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27192728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gallifreytrash/pseuds/grimheart
Summary: Sirius wakes to find Remus returned after the full moon, and proceeds to make sure he's alright.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 49





	What Remus Needs

Sirius sat up. He hadn’t really slept much that night, and so waking up early seemed only right. He stretched a bit, and got out of bed. He was woken up quickly by the freezing cold floor so, hopping between feet, he pulled on a jumper and socks and padded down the stairs to the common room. After all, it was still dark, and he didn’t want to wake the other 3 boys.

As he got down the stairs he saw the back of someone’s head, someone sitting on the couch in front of the fire. He silently made his way over to the couch, and upon reaching it, saw that the person sitting on the couch was his best friend.

“Remus?”

The sandy-haired boy looked up at him. It had just occurred to Sirius that it had been a full moon that night. He looked terrible. A new scratch was etched across his face, and as a result half of his face was covered in freshly dried blood. He wasn’t in his pyjamas, rather some ill-fitting tattered clothes he’d obviously been storing at the shack. He was shivering.

“Sirius,” he replied weakly, “Hello.”

“A-Are you alright?”

“Um, no, not really.”

_ Yeah, of course he’s not alright you idiot _ , Sirius thought as he darted across to the other couch to grab all the blankets, and then proceeded to wrap them all around the werewolf to warm him up. 

“Let’s get all that blood cleaned off then.”

“You don’t-”

“Oh shut up Remus, we both know you’re not up to doing it yourself just yet.”

“No but really-”

“I insist, now sit still. You should have expected this when you came here instead of the hospital wing, you git...” 

Sirius left and returned with a wet cloth, which he used to start cleaning the blood off of the new gash on Remus’ face.

“Why didn’t you tell us it was the full moon tonight? We could have waited up to make sure you were alright.”

“Because I don’t want any of you worrying…”

“Remus, we all told you that we didn’t  _ care _ that you’re a werewolf, you’re our friend, we’re not scared of you.”

“But that’s not what I mean, I just didn’t want you worrying about me all night.”

“So you thought if you came back like  _ this _ ,” Sirius stopped for a second to look him in the eyes, “then I wouldn’t worry about you?”

“There’s nothing you can do about it anyway…” Remus said in an empty sort of voice, like he wanted to cry, but was just too exhausted to bother squeezing out a tear.

“Remus,” Sirius sighed, “You have to let us be here for you. You can’t keep pretending you aren’t scared or in pain every time you have to transform, because it won’t just destroy  _ you _ , it’ll destroy  _ us  _ too…” he trailed off, but then continued in a softer, smaller voice, “It’ll destroy me.”

“See, but you can’t  _ say _ that, because then I worry  _ more _ .” Remus sighed, “I can’t afford to let you help me, because I might bite you, or even worse I could kill you! Don’t you understand? I can’t let that happen.”

“There has to be  _ some _ way that we can help you.”

“I’m open to suggestions…” Remus offered weakly. He didn’t sound very hopeful.

They fell into silence as Sirius continued to gently wipe away all the dirt and blood from his face until Sirius again broke the silence.

“Was it bad?”

“...Yeah”

“Tell me about it.”

“Usual really, I got to the shack, and then I waited for a bit, then I transformed, which always hurts, what with the whole ‘all your bones break and reform’ thing,” Remus looked even more hopeless then, “and it seems that, as usual, the wolf got frustrated from the boredom, and started attacking itself, hence  _ this _ .” He said, pointing up at his face.

Sirius had finished cleaning up Remus’ new scar and took one of his hands. Again the werewolf looked like he was going to cry. He continued.

“Of course, turning back is also bad, because it hurts  _ and _ it’s exhausting, so I’m lying there on the cold floor in my tattered clothes with this new cut,” He pointed at it again, “burning and stinging like you wouldn’t believe, so I just sat there for a bit, and then I pulled myself up and headed back… I guess I didn’t feel like dealing with Pomfrey tonight...”

Remus finished talking, swallowed, and looked away from Sirius, embarrassed. Sirius couldn’t help but realise how broken he sounded.

“I’m sorry Remus.”

“What for?” 

“That you have to do this. You shouldn’t have to do this, shouldn’t have to go through this, it’s not fair.”

“It’s okay…” Remus responded in an effort to stop the worrying.

“Don’t say that, it’s not, it’s just not.”

“I don’t really have much choice though, do I?” Remus laughed, although to Sirius it sounded more like a pained bark.

“We’ll find something, some way to come with you so you don’t have to be alone.”

Remus was going to tell him that was stupid, that he didn’t have to, anything along those lines, but he looked Sirius in the face and saw he was being completely, earnestly serious, and so for the first time since he was bitten, he felt a tiny glimmer of hope that maybe,  _ maybe _ it could get better.

“I-I’d like that.”

“Really. I will. I’ll get James and Pete to help, we’ll figure it out.”

“I’ve never actually  _ had _ company on a full moon, you know.”

Sirius lifted his hand and squeezed Remus’ shoulder.

“Maybe we can change that”

Sirius got up and sat next to Remus on the couch.

“Besides, we can’t have any more of this happening,” he gestured vaguely at the scratches on his face, “or you might not have much of a face  _ left _ , and I like that face very much.”

“Oh shut up...” Remus smiled, happy for Sirius’ trademark shift from seriousness to humour.

“Really though, we’ll sneak into the restricted section of the library and steal every book on lycanthropy until we find a way to help you.”

“Sounds good.” Remus sighed, exhausted, and rested his head on Sirius’ shoulder. Sirius was still holding his hand.

“Warm enough?” Sirius asked.

Remus made a muffled sound into Sirius’ shoulder. He’d take that as a yes. 

Just like that, Remus was asleep. He’d had a tough night. Sirius didn’t dare move, he stayed completely still until the sun started to rise and the rest of Gryffindor was waking up. In fact, he was late to his first classes of the day, but if that’s what Remus needed, that’s what he’d do, and that was that.

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first fic written about the Marauders era, let alone the Wizarding World, and it's also unbeta'd, so as usual, any mistakes are down to me. Hopefully you enjoyed it though, please let me know!


End file.
